Billiard-counter.



F. U. HOBBS.

BILLIARD COUNTERx APPLICATION FILED NOV. 18, 1910.

993,994. P11111111 May 30,1911.

WIT/1519858 "UNITED STATES PATENT o'Fr1oE AssIGnoR' .TO THEBnUn'swmK-Bnxi'i- FRANK c. ones, or NEW YORK, N. Y.,

ICOIIJIIENDERHCQMPANYI OF NEW YORK, OF NEW YORK COUNTY, NEW YORK,v

conronarron or NEW YORK.

' :erLLrAnn-coUNTE Specification of Letters Itatent. v i911 Applicationfiled Novemaer is, 1910. Serial No. 593,035. I

b To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK C. HOBBS, a

citizen of the United States, residing in the city of New York, in thecounty of New Yorkand State of New York, (whose post- .ollice addressiscare Bruns\vickBalke-Gollender Company of New York, 2-935 VestThirty-second street, New York, N. Y.,)

' have invented a new and useful Improvement in Billiard-Counters, ofwhich the following 1s aspecl-fi'cation, reference belng had to theaccompanying drawing-forming a part thereof.

My invention relates to that type of game registering devices used inplaying games on billiard tables, known as string counters; and whichconsists, as is well known, of-two series of 'buttons, or disk-shapedunits made 'j of wood; centrally perforated; and strung on awire, overhead (usually locate over .the billiard table) so that the players can"slide, or manipulate the buttons on the wire,

I .ered parts of the split button drop off of the by the application tothe counters, of the playing end-portion of a billiard cue.

As is well knownto billiard room keepers, it sometimes (notinfrequently) occurs that, in too hastily or roughly shoving upy one ormore buttons with the cue, in registering the score of an inning, one ofthe wooden. counters is broken in two, the fracture being diametric ofthe button and passing through its central aperture,or eye, so that thesev- ,tion) .of the strung wire. And as the billiard room keeper wellknows, all this 111- volves much trouble.

It has been'suggested, I believe, to lessen the trouble of thereplacement of broken oif buttons by new ones, to provide for use (to besupplied to billiard room keepers) substitute buttons made-of wood, intwo parts,

. and supplied with means for securely uniting the twoparts, after theirapplication,

, "separately, to the wire; and I believe patents have been granted,forfsuch :ldevices, adapted to avoid all thetrouble incident to thestringing onto the wire ofnew, cen trally perforated, button. f But suchdevices have none of them ever gone'into practical operation, or use byroom keepers (that I know of) and'the custom still prevails of curingthe. deficiency of ,a' broken ofl button in the manner I have aboveexplained. V

' My invention has for itsYob'ject to pro,- vlde for use string cou11terbi1ttons,-which so as to permit the parts of the fractured button'tobecome detacjhedfrom the string wire. Andto this end and object myinvention consists in a wooden ,button,or centrally peripheral disk, oftl1e- -usual size and shape, provided with a peripherally arrangedintegral lnetallic'band, which encircles the button, inca sing theperimeter of the, wooden disk,'fronr any cause, get? splitdiametrilcally (with thegra-in' of the wood) disk experienced nofracturing o f'its stock.

Though the .contingency; of the w d getting split is practicallyimpossible, on account of the, wooden disk "beinglhound or banded by ametallic device which embraces, laterally, at every point' in itscircumference, an appreciable part of the wooden stock constituting theperimeter of the disk.

To enable those skilled in the art to make anduse a string counter,provided with my improvednon-breakable wooden buttons, I 'will nowproceed to more fully describe my invention by reference to theaccompanying drawing, which forms part of this specification, and inwhich I have shown the invention carried out with that precise form ofnon-breakable, wooden, button, or counter unit, which I have so. farsuccessfully used in practicing my said invention. 4

In the drawing Figure 1 is a side View or elevation, full size, of asufficient portion of a s-"ring counter to illustrate my invention; Fig.2 is a side view, same scale, of one counter buttons, detached from thestring wire; Fig. 3 is an edge'view of the button detached, double size;and Fig.4 1s a dla metric sectional view,-double size, showingcannot-possibly get broken or split iii-two,

the disk; in such manner thatfeven should its two parts will bemaintained in juxtaposltion ustthe same asthoughthejwooden' of myimproved non-breakable wooden plainly the precise construction of themetal-bound wooden button of my invention.

In' the several figures the same part will be found always designated bythe same letter of reference. A, is the usual wire on which the buttonsare strung, as shown at F ig. 1,-in the usual manner.

B, is the wooden, metal-bound, counter button or disk, of about theusual shape and appearance, except that its circular, perimetralportion, is i'ncased within and it is banded,-or bound,circumferentially, by the metallic binder C. And this binder C, of

sheet metal, is of such shape, in cross sectron, at every point in itscircumference, as plainly shown, (see particularly Flg. 3) as to incasewithin it an appreciable portion of the Wooden disk, at the vicinity ofits perimeter; and to surround the perimeter of the diskcircumferentially, as shown.- And, preferably, the combined arrangementof the wooden and-metallic parts of the button, is such that themetallic band, or binder C contacts circumferentially with theperipheral edge of the Wooden disk, as clearly shown at '6, Fig. 3. Themetal binder device, also at its circular edges 2'. 2'. forciblycontacts with the wood ofthe button as seen; and theseedges 2'. 2".should fit' tight against the wood, (whether the binder C be I 7 made tofit tight to the periphery of the disk vat e or not) vin order that thecombined .metal and wooden parts shall be securely and lastinglyfastened together. And in making the combination Wood and metal button,this rigid and durable-union of the wooden and metallic parts may bereadily attained to by, either spinning (a pre viously suitable shapedcircular metallic blank) on to the periphery of the wooden disk; or byupsetting and compressing a suitableshaped metal blank onto theperimeter of the wooden disk, between a suitabl shaped set of metaldies.

It will be readily understood that a wooden counter button, or disk,otherwise substantially like those now in use, but made with a metallicbinder device C substantially like that shown, and applied to the Woodenpart in substantially the Way de scribed, cannot possibly be broken offof,'or broken so as to become detached from, the string wire A.

'Wishing it to be understood that I do not confine myself, in practicingmy invention,

.to the precise forms and arrangement to- In witness whereof I havehereunto set my hand this 16th dayof November,

I FRANK C. HOBBS; In presence of WM. H. LANSMITH, Jr,

M. CouooRAN

